Many wineries have price tags on their bottles which would indicate the liquid
contained therein is precious. We lined up a set of eight wines and found a surprise
or two and some disappointments.

The Wines

Gerald's Rank

Ellen's Rank

Bob's Rank

GROUP RANK

Total Points

1/2/8

CLOS DU VALRutherford/Napa"Vineyard Georges III "$48

7

4

8

6

93

2/0/2

FAR NIENTENapa$100

5

3

7

5

85

1/2/0

LEONETTI CELLARSColumbia ValleyWashington$65

2

5

1

4

69

4/3/2

MINERNapa Valley$60

4

6

4

3

67

1/5/0

MURPHY-GOODEAlexander ValleyReserve-Brenda Block$39

3

2

2

2

63

2/3/0

JOSEPH PHELPSNapa Valley"Insignia"$95

1

1

3

1

46

7/3/0

PINE RIDGENapa Valley"Andrus Reserve"$120

6

7

5

7

95

1/1/1

RIDGE VINEYARDS"Monte Bello"$100

8

8

8

8*Corked Bottle

130

0/1/13

Bob's Compilation of Taster's Comments and His Own Notes:

Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
This least-liked bottle was probably corked, according to the consensus of the group, not
obviously so but enough too seriously compromise the wine. There was, however, some
very nice stuff showing through: sage, anise, but ultimately
an unsatisfactory wine. A bottle opened in the Tasting Room recently showed no
funk element and was splendid in every respect. There is a lurking suspicion,
though, that the garden mulch, cellar smell element might be due
to bottle variation rather than a defective cork.

Pine Ridge Andrus Reserve:
This seventh place wine, a bit of a surprise in view of the price and some excellent past
vintages, gave several tasters a tinny, medicinal impression.
Others characterized it as clumsy, un-knit, confused,
having a tartness and weak finish while another found a 
weird uneven ripeness of fruit. Bob found it sharp toned with a strange
herbaceous note with little depth on the palate but an easy, tasty, up-front
drink for how much?

Clos du Val Napa-Rutherford Georges III Vineyard:
The sixth place wine was a bit controversial. Some found lots of character,
hickory smoke Cassis/berry while others found it
minerally vegetal skunky silage(!). There
was a distinct but moderate presence of Brettanomyces that gave it a leathery,
smoked meat character but that was no problem for most of the
tasters. Bob marked it down for having some heat on the finish.

Far Niente Napa:
Some liked this fifth place wine for its berryish Zin-like character,
mint and sweet, ripe black currant and even a touch of
elegance while others found skunky, weedy finish,
vegetal/herbal notes and flat on the palate. Showing how diverse
tasters can be with regard to tannin tolerance, one taster said it had the easiest
tannins of the set while another found it astringently tannic. Bob found
it, along with most of the wines in the group, a nice, uncomplicated
wine."

Leonetti Cellars Columbia Valley  Washington:One taster liked this fourth place wine for its
cherry/vanilla/caramel notes and another for its toasty oak while
another found it oaked up from top to bottom. Bob liked its dusty,
Cassis-like Cab fruit, a deeper, less facile wine than the California
entrants with a nice acidity which should contribute to further
development Most of the other wines seemed surprisingly ready. A
dissenting voice, however, found an inconsistent sharpness which would indicate
volatile acidity.

Miner Napa:This third place wine disappointed several tasters for its rather closed-in,
weak, flat nose but countered that it was terrific on the
palate: intense cedary, so much fruit!
Tannic, yes, but it has the fruit to go with it. Another found a
bitter note to the tannins and another found something that reminded him of
the Alsatian eau-de-vie Prunelle. Bob found it a nice chewy
Cab.

Murphy-Goode Alexander Valley Reserve  Brenda BlockThis second place wine elicited an animated I loved it! from one
taster. Another found peppermint, chocolate and coffee. Still another found it
overly extracted giving it a disagreeably coarse texture. Tannin tolerance ran
from tannic but tasty to overwhelmed by tannins. Bob pegged it as
a Sonoma, rather than Napa, Cab with its sweet wood, smoke and spice and its
intense, long black currant fruit; a nicely balanced wine warranting several years of
further development.

Joseph Phelps Napa Insignia:The first place wine was much liked for its black currant fruit, ample oak
and hint of caramel. Another found it delicate, elegant and
complex and still another found a fruit bowl. Bob found no finesse
and full volume Napa Cab with one dimension only and yet you cant really fault
it!

Gerald's Thoughts:
After first going through the "Aroma & Bouquet" phase of the
score-sheet, I
was disappointed in this set of wines. What should have been exceptional, merely was
in the "above average" to "standard" range.
I commented that there are certainly many fine $20 bottles in the shop which provide as
much interest as anything in this flight of wines.
Having tasted a few of these previously, I wonder if some of their distinctive elements
ran a common thread through this flight. That is, some wines, tasted one at a time,
have been far more impressive than when they were in this line-up.

For me the PhelpsInsignia was clearly ahead of the
group, but I pegged it as a "One-and-a-half" star wine (on my three star scale).
It had lovely cabernet fruit, cassis and blackberry notes along with sweet oak and
a touch of sweetness, too.
The Murphy-Goode Reserve had nice cedary wood notes to go with the
violets, red berries and sweet fruit. 1-star.Leonetti, usually showing loads of oak, did have some nice vanillin
notes. 1 star.Miner's Cabernet has been a favorite previously and this wine showed nice
berryish/cassis notes on the nose and mild tannins with a bit of sweet wood on the palate.
1-star.Far Niente had a hint of cassis and light oak, delivering more on the
palate than on the nose. 1/2-star.Pine Ridge "Andrus Reserve" carries an absurd price tag given
the stalky, stemmy, "burnt" notes on the nose. One's wallet would also
show "burnt notes" at anything over $20. Stars? "Get outta
town!"
The Clos du Val wine comes from a Beckstoffer-owned vineyard which is
said to have been planted by Georges de Latour, founder of Beaulieu Vineyards. This
wine, from Rutherford, may have that "Rutherford Dust" character some
tasters talk about. I found it earthy, hot and "wiry," not at all a rich
or classically complex Cabernet.
The Ridge displayed either a corky element or a cellar smell. The cork, it should be
noted, did not exhibit the typical fragrances of "wet cardboard" or a "dank
cellar", the hallmarks of a "corked" or "tainted" bottle.

Please note: The wines tasted are not always wines
we have (or have had) in the shop.
Many bottles are merely for our enological exploration.
Price quoted are current at the time of the tasting, but may be different
when you're reading this.

WE HAVE NOT ORGANIZED A TASTING IN A WHILE...
BUT WE DO POST THE RESULTS OF A PRIVATE TASTING GROUP THAT'S BEEN MEETING FOR
MORE THAN 40 YEARS!

We are working on
organizing some blind-tastings at the shop.
Send us a note to indicate your interest in participating.
These would be on Wednesday evenings and you'd need to bring 8 wine glasses.